I have a Celestron Nexstar 6se and wish to control it with my laptop using either Redshift 7 Premium or Stellarium. I have ASCOM software installed and a lead from the 15pin rs232 point of the laptop to the handset of the telescope, but following the instructions I receive a message to the effect that the telescope is 'not connected'. I guess that I may have missed some required software - driver for the telescope? Or is my cable connection incorrect? Any help/advice would be most welcome.

I have to ask if you are certain your laptop has an RS232 port, as I've read that RS232 was dropped from most laptops a few years ago. On my laptop there is a 15-pin D connector but it's intended to run an external monitor. I do use an RS232 connection to my LX90 via the handset, but the computer end of the connection is via a USB to serial converter,

Many thanks for your reply and suggestion - I suspect that you are right as I know that the connection can be used for video connection. Regarding the use of a usb port, does this require any different software to enable this use or is it just a matter of a 'mechanical' conversion via an adapter?

These do seem a bit pricey, and it's possible to get generic versions a lot cheaper (just Google). However it's reported that some cheaper chipsets don't work well with the telescope systems, and the advice is to look for adapters based on the "Prolific" chipset,

I have Redshift v 7 on my Laptop and a USB to a J45 plug at the bottom of the scope handset.
However like you even though I have the Celestron driver and lots of other software on my PC when I run Redshift it tells me that no scope is connected.
It turned out that if you go to redshift, pull down menu where you set up scope, go to connections, check the port number, default in Redshift is Port 5, but the scope will look at port 9.
Just make sure you have your set to Port 9, not 5 default in software.
David

No problem, I am so excited now that I can move my scope around just by clicking an item on my Redshift v 7 software, it's magic honest I'm over the moon with it, please let me know if you need any help okay?
David

I look forward to sharing the same experience, I have been asked to give a short talk about my interest in astronomy later this year and this would be a great help. I will let you know when I have the current problem sorted. Thanks again.
Patrick

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